Author: Heleentje

Rating: T

Word count: 1291

Genre: Romance/Tragedy

Pairing: YuseixBruno

Summary: Soulmate AU. Yusei and Bruno's counters have always been counting down to the same moment. Things don't change as much as one'd hope.

Notes: Spoilers for all of 5D's. My attempt at working with that soulmate AU where everyone has a counter that counts down to when they'll meet their soulmate. Of course, me being me, I couldn't just take the easy way out. As for what happened to Crow and Sherry's counters… Well, that's a story for another time :p

Zero Hour

Maybe Yusei was a little disappointed when he drove up to the Ark Cradle. The counter on his left wrist was steadily ticking down to zero – four hours left now – and somewhere down below, Bruno's was doing the same. Bruno had gone all too easily when he'd told him to evacuate with the rest of the city, even though he had to know what day it was. Their counters had always run in sync, and for a while Yusei had wondered. But that happened sometimes, people whose counters ran together. Only so many seconds in a lifetime, after all, and he'd rather see Bruno safe than his soulmate.

Four hours. The Ark was looming high above them, steadily descending towards a city that was still filled with people. If it were just the Ark Cradle hitting the city, the damage wouldn't be that bad. The city center would be wiped out, sure, but houses could be rebuilt. If only it were just the Ark… But Yusei knew enough about Momentum to know that the real damage would come from the reactors colliding. One reactor going out of control had caused Zero Reverse. What would two do? No way around it but to stop Z-one. Maybe he'd be back on the ground before his counter hit zero. Maybe he'd be dead before then. Wasn't that what Sherry had predicted?

(Sherry, who'd once told him about her own counter, and how it had run haywire all her life, stopping, rewinding, counting up and down and sometimes even negative before disappearing altogether mere months ago. Whoever or whatever her soulmate had been, they were dead now.)

Yusei glanced up from his D-Wheel and saw Jack looking back at him. Jack knew, of course, as did Crow. The three of them had always known how Jack's counter would run out first, followed by Crow's mere days later, while Yusei would still have to wait for another year. Jack had met Carly, and Crow's counter had hit zero at the expected time. Only there'd been no one around whose counter had been in sync with his. It was a mystery they still hadn't solved.

They made it to the Ark with everyone intact – barely. Yusei didn't want to think about anyone dying, especially not by plummeting to their deaths from several kilometers up in the air. But Aki and Ruka were safe, and Yusei wouldn't let them die. Not today. Not ever. He'd hoped they could all stick together, but with only three hours and thirty minutes left to go, they were split up. The conclusion was far too obvious. If he survived the next few hours, his soulmate was somewhere on the Ark Cradle, and it wasn't anyone he'd met before. Z-one? Couldn't be. Maybe. He didn't know anything anymore.

Fifteen minutes before his counter ran out, he hadn't seen anyone but the mysterious duelist accompanying him. (Wasn't him – met him before.)

Ten minutes before his counter ran out, Rua became a Signer.

Five minutes before his counter ran out, they finally reached the third planet gear. Yusei looked around with trepidation, but there was no one. The mysterious duelist had abandoned his D-wheel and neared the edge of the structure, looking as wary as Yusei felt.

Ten seconds before his counter ran out, the mysterious duelist took off his vizor, and Bruno said, "My name is Antinomy."

And his counter hit zero.

Bruno was still talking, words that made no sense, and Yusei stared. He'd regained his memories. They'd speculated about this, months ago, but why now? Why like this? Bruno hadn't even noticed, and he was still talking and-

"Bruno," he said, the word almost stuck in his throat.

"My name isn't-"

"The counter." Yusei removed his left glove and turned the inside of his wrist upwards. "It's run out."

Bruno froze, stricken. Looked at his right hand. Didn't remove the glove. "It's run out," he repeated. "It can't-"

"You were supposed to evacuate," Yusei said, and it was the accusation he didn't want it to be. "You weren't supposed to be here."

"You weren't supposed to get invol-" Bruno half-shouted, and then whispered, "No, you were."

Neither of them had moved. The few books Martha owned had all described this moment. How the lovers finally found each other as their counters ran out in perfect synchronicity, and how they rushed into each other's arms, feeling more complete than they ever had in their entire lives. He'd scoffed at them with Jack and Crow, but read them anyway, because books were hard to come by in Satellite. This was nothing like those books.

"That's not fair," Bruno was muttering. "You can't do that. Not now. Why now?"

He wasn't even talking towards Yusei. Yusei stepped closer and reached out with his ungloved hand. Bruno flinched back violently.

"Don't!" he all but shouted. He breathed in deeply, once, twice, and straightened. He put the vizor back on, conveniently covering his eyes, but Yusei didn't need to see them to know how shaken he was.

"You know Z-one, don't you?" Yusei asked. "And Aporia. That's what you forgot."

Bruno nodded, now utterly impassive. "Defeat me, and the planet gear will stop and you'll find Z-one. If you don't, you'll die here."

Yusei drew up his shoulders. "And if I win, you die? Unacceptable."

"There's no other option."

"The counters ran out, Bruno," Yusei said. Bruno flinched at the name. "We talked about this. Does that really mean nothing?"

Bruno's D-Wheel was still running when he reached it. He gripped the right handle tightly, refusing to look at Yusei. "In four hours, the Ark Cradle will hit Neo Domino City. The explosion of the two reactors will take out everything and everyone in a thirty-kilometer radius. Plenty of citizens won't have made it that far."

Yusei clenched his fists. That was nothing he didn't know, of course. He'd already thought of it himself before even reaching the Ark Cradle. But to hear Bruno say it so coolly…

"You can stop it if you defeat me," Bruno finished.

"I won't do it," Yusei said. After everything they'd been through, Bruno was just going to turn on them? The counters meant nothing? "This is crazy. You can't really want to-"

"If I don't, my entire world will be destroyed!" Bruno whirled around. His D-Wheel shook under the impact. "My family, my friends, everyone I ever cared about… They will die. So if I have to-" He swallowed visibly. "One more way for the universe to ruin our lives. It's not like we're not used to it already."

"The counters-"

"Don't matter. They cannot matter." Bruno pointed at Yusei-Go. "The longer you wait, the more chance that everyone down there will die. We can sit here, and billions of people will die because of you. Or you can stop it all if you duel me now."

There had to be another way, but with only hours to spare… He couldn't give up on Neo Domino. He'd already seen it destroyed once, and he'd sworn to not let it happen again. He could find a way to save the city and Bruno all at once. He had to.

"Either everyone dies or only one person dies," Bruno told him softly.

The duel. He'd figure something out during the duel. He'd find a way to save everyone. "All right," he forced himself to say. "I'll duel you, Bruno."

Was it possible to look sad and relieved all at once? Bruno managed. "My name is Antinomy," he said, and got on his D-Wheel.

oOoOo

"I'm sorry, Yusei" Bruno said, later. "I really wish- I wish we could've."

And an hour after Yusei's counter had hit zero, it disappeared for good.